Improvement in the construction of metallic boats



f @UNHED STATJLSl ATENT @Erma LEWIS RAYMOND, 0F NEVVYORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF METALLIC BOATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,9 S4, dated June 23, 1863.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEWIS RAYMOND, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful skeleton frame for the purpose of building metallic boats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,'

reference being had to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure l represents a plan of one of my removable boat-frames applied to the keel of the boat. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, and Fig. 8 represents a transverse section of the same with the frame detached from the keel ot' the boat.

The object of my invention is to enable me to build metallic boats with facility and dispatch 5 and to this end myinvention consists in a removable skeleton boatframe, constructed in such manner that it can be secured to a keel and stem and stern posts, to which the metallic sides of the boat are made fast in the process of building, and that it can be removed therefrom, leaving the keel, stem and stern posts in the metallic shell of the boat, and used for building a number of boats in succession.

The skeleton frame may be constructed of wood or metal, or partly of each, and is made of ribs connected by lengthwise strips in such manner as to present open spaces in which the riveting of the plates of the boat to each' other can be effected.

The frame represented in the accompanying drawings, which exemplify my invention, is composed of floor-timbers D, ribs E, stringers or keelsons F, clamps H, and aprons I I, all secured together by bolts and screws. The floor-timbers l) are slotted crosswise on their under sides, so as to fit the keel A, upon which the boat is to be built. The aprons I I are also formed with upright grooves to fit the stem C and stern-post B of the boat. The Hoor-timbers of the frame are fitted with screw-bolts L, by which they may be secured to the keel ot the boat.

In building boats with such frames the best inode with which I am acquainted is to getout the keel, the stem, and the stern-post of wood, and to secure them to each other and to the frame by screw-bolts.I The metallic plates of which the bont is to be built are then put together upon the frame, the latter being turned upside down, beginning with those plates which are nearest the keel and securing them firmly to the keel, to each other, and

Yto the stem and stern posts wherever they come in contact therewith. The remaining plates are then applied in order and are secured to each other by riveting, and to the stem and stern posts, where they come in contact with these,by nails, screws, or other suit able means. plates which form the opposite sides of the boat are combined together by the keel and stem and stern posts, so that the shell is entirely independent of the frame upon which it has been built. When the keel, stem and stern-posts are of wood, their outsides are covered with metallic plates, which are lapped under the edges of the adjacent plates and iirml y secured thereto and to the keel by nails or screws. When the shell is thus complete, the whole is turned over, so that the boat stands upon her keel; then the bolts which connect the removable frame with the keel, stem and stern posts are removed, and the removable frame is hoisted out, leaving the keel, stem, and the stern-post fast to the shell of the boat. The gunwales, thwarts, bottom boards, Src., of the boat are then applied to the interior of the shell and secured in any suitable manner.

r Having thus described the best mode of prac ticin g myinven tion withwhich Iam acquainted, I deem it proper to state that I am aware that boats have been built upon frames which have been taken out of them when the shell of the boat has been completed; but I do not know that any removable skeleton frame for building metallic boats has been constructed previous to my invention in such manner that the ribs of the frame were combined together by stringers in the vicinity of the keel of the boat and by clamps at the ends of the ribs, so that the frame was entirely self-sustaining and did not depend upon the iioor or other support upon which it was placed to maintain the relative positions of its ribs, (while at the saine time spaces were left between the members to permit the riveting of the plates of which the boat was composed,) and that it could be' made fast to the keel and stern-post, to which the sides of the boat are subsequentlyf By this mode of procedure the secured, and could be removed therefrom, leaving the keel, stem and stern post fast to the shell.

What I claim, therefore, as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A removable skeleton frame for the purpose of building metallic boats, consisting of a oombinatiou of ribs E, clamps H, stringers F, and aprons I, or their equivalents, and constructed substantially as described, in such manner that it can be secured to the keel, the stem,

and the ster11-post of the boat by screw-bolts or other fastenings, and can be removed there from after the removal of these fastenings, substantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

LEWIS RAYMOND. Witnesses:

JAS. S. WIGHTMAN, XV. L. BENNEM. 

